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Alt was a two-sport star in high school, as he led Cretin-Derham to a state title as a quarterback in football. The son of former Kansas City Chiefs offensive lineman Jon Alt, he was entertaining offers to play football in college until late in the spring, when he committed to playing hockey at the University of Minnesota. Like his father, Alt is a tall man but despite his height is a fluid skater who has good speed and agility. Having not yet played at a higher level of hockey, he is still raw in terms of tactical play and positioning but is a strong two-way player according to scouts who've seen him play.
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I think he just finished his Junior Season at Minnesota, was 2nd in defensemen scoring his sophomore season (and this is at a very good hockey program), but production dropped off big time this year in Junior year. Supposed to be all potential and raw, hopefully it works out.

Mark Alt is a surprisingly decent acquire. He's got decent size at 6"3, 199lbs, a RH shot, and HF lists him as a 7C prospect, as well as being their 4th best defensive prospect (10th overall). He was their 2nd round pick in 2010.

Here's HF's write up:

Alt was a two-sport star in high school, as he led Cretin-Derham to a state title as a quarterback in football. The son of former Kansas City Chiefs offensive lineman Jon Alt, he was entertaining offers to play football in college until late in the spring, when he committed to playing hockey at the University of Minnesota. Like his father, Alt is a tall man but despite his height is a fluid skater who has good speed and agility. Having not yet played at a higher level of hockey, he is still raw in terms of tactical play and positioning but is a strong two-way player according to scouts who've seen him play.
Future

After attending the USA's junior evaluation camp, Alt will begin his college career this fall as a true freshman at the University of Minnesota. Alt does not turn nineteen until October and will be stepping into a pressure-filled situation with the Gophers, who recently lost top defensemen Nick Leddy (CHI) after the 2009 first round pick signed a contract with the Blackhawks. While he might be better served playing junior hockey for a year, Alt has the skating ability and size to compete at the college level and has a great opportunity to get ice time right away. Whether he has the hockey smarts to make his mark as a freshman, as fellow Hurricanes prospects Brian Dumoulin (Boston College) and Kyle Lawson (Notre Dame) did, remains to be seen. Long-term, the Hurricanes are hoping he can blossom into a top four defender. But at this point he is a long-range project.]

Pither, on the other hand, wasn't ranked in the top 20 prospects in the Flyers organization.

This was a fleecing. We got a capable backup goalie and a prospect who will almost, likely, be among our 3 best D prospects currently.

I don't know how we got away with this trade...I guess Carolina owed us a favor or Homer made a bet and won it. Alt was part of an all in when Homer had his straight flush beating 4 of a kind Aces!! lol

Right, but that doesn't explain handing over Alt. It sounds like Alt for Pither alone would have been a win for Homer. The rest of the trade just doesn't make sense from Carolina's perspective.

The Canes probably only had a limited number of teams who would take Boucher and they wanted to get rid of him. It was probably a scenario where they asked us if we wanted Boucher back, and we said "Nah", so they said "Fine, we'll give you Alt". Alt's a pretty raw prospect who didn't have a great year last year. Upside for certain, but he's raw.

Pither is a meangingless AHL cannon fodder type prospect. Alt while he is all tools and nothing but that at the moment is a big guy who can at least handle himself in his zone. From that alone it's a win. Boucher should do nothing more than handle Adirondacks weight unless of injury. Solid move.

The Flyers took out a $50,0000 insurance policy on a goaltending injury earlier today when they re-acquired Brian Boucher from Carolina. General manager Paul Holmgren indicated that Boucher would not compete in camp with Michael Leighton for the backup job but would likely be sent directly to Glens Falls once he passes his physical and clears waivers.

Under the terms of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, the re-acquisition of Boucher is going to cost the Flyers $50,000 on the salary cap this season even if he spends the rest of the season with Adirondack.

So why bother with the acquisition? Simple. It's insurance against an injury to Leighton or, for a shorter term, to starter Ilya Bryzgalov.